Our Bureau 1920 Fully-geared US Warfighter drinks water. US DoD image The U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a program to capture potable water from the air in quantities sufficient to meet warfighter needs, even in extremely dry climates. It recently awarded five contracts and selected one Government partner. GE Research, Physical Sciences Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, and U.S. Naval Research Laboratory were chosen to develop next-generation, scalable sorbent materials and prototypes under DARPA’s Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) program. The goal of the AWE program is to provide fresh water for a range of military, stabilization, and humanitarian needs through the development of small, lightweight, low-powered, distributable systems that extract moisture from the atmosphere. DARPA is open to various approaches, with an emphasis on advanced sorbents that can rapidly extract water from ambient air and release it quickly with minimal energy inputs.